Still want to party? An assessment of party-politicization in directly-elected mayoral authorities in England and Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia

Abstract

Very little attention has been paid to the political impact of directly-elected mayors. This paper sheds light on the topic by comparing the English case with that of North Rhine-Westphalia. Both demonstrate that parties continue to monopolize their local political systems and most aspects of mayoral office; nevertheless, some de-party-politicization is noted. There is much to learn about the English case from observation of the mayoral model in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Keywords:

• Directly-elected mayor
• local parties
• party-politicization